When I,m lecturing and teaching aspiring amateur photographers,or the Flickr generation as I now call them,the most frequently asked questions are...

1. How do I light things?

2. How do I become a professional photographer?

Well, I will be sharing all my lighting tricks as we go,which brings me to the second question.

Photography is just another extension of life and how we live it, I really believe that.I,m often struck by the scramble of photographers,particularly students, to the stands of Getty's or Corbis and the like at trade shows. While it is an interesting route to explore I believe it not the answer per se.In fact, one so very often sees competently shot images which scream 'stock photo'. You can spot them a mile off,and do you know why? They have that one fundamental element missing. Soul

Soul is key element which makes a good piece of music to a great one.A feeling, something that moves us deeply and takes us to another place,and i believe that photography is the same.

Getting soul in your photography is actually quite easy and simple.

Photograph what you know, love or are interested in.

In my case I sought adventure and wanted to travel. Very early on my career I read 'Shooter' a book by David Hume Kennerly, a really great photographer. Reading the book was enough to make me quit my day job on the 'Northamptonshire Evening Telegraph' and travel to Cambodia to cover the civil war

I had been submitting photos to the national papers,like 'The Independent' 'The Times' and 'The Telegraph' with some success but it was THAT book which was the final straw.